The group stage of the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League entered its final round of games with some very interesting results on Tuesday.
English side, Tottenham Hotspur, left it late to save their blushes following a 1-1 draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou, leaving heartbreak for Inter Milan and their fans.
And at Anfield, Liverpool did what was expected of them, narrowly seeing off SSC Napoli to also book a place in the knockout phase of the competition.
However, there are other things that happened you may have missed and here are three of them from Tuesday night.
Joy For Dortmund, Despair For Thierry Henry’s Monaco
The fall from grace to grass of Ligue 1 side, AS Monaco, has been epic and last night, they ended their Champions League campaign without a single victory in the group stages, falling to a 2-0 defeat at home to German side, Borussia Dortmund who emerged as group winners.
The referee calls time on our final #UCL game this season.
— AS Monaco EN
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#ASMBVB pic.twitter.com/taxcKm6VjF
(@AS_Monaco_EN) December 11, 2018
That defeat means Monaco’s journey in Europe comes to an end and for the second consecutive season they will exist the competition without a single win in the group stages.
An unwanted record by any stretch of the imagination, but one that Monaco has now recorded, becoming the first team to fail to win a single match in two successive seasons since Croatian side, Dinamo Zagreb, did so in 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons.
Spurs Continue Their Match Day Six Hoodoo
Ahead of their decisive game at Camp Nou on Tuesday, only few perhaps knew that Mauricio Pochettino and his men have a special record to bank on.
The trip to the Camp, home of Spanish giants, Barcelona, with the English side needing at least a point, as long as Inter Milan does not win at home to PSV, to secure a place in the next round was indeed a huge mountain to climb for the side from North London.
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 11, 2018
Tottenham in Group B:
1 point from opening 3 games
7 points from final 3 games
Round of 16 spot booked pic.twitter.com/TgrcnP8HRR
Then came the match, which at some point Spurs seemed destined for Thursday night football in the dreaded Europa League.
However, with five minutes left on the clock, Brazilian winger, Lucas Moura sent fans into frenzy when he found the back to the net to cancel out Ousmane Dembele’s brilliant opener for Barca.
It ended 1-1, the same result at San Siro, where Inter failed to beat PSV, meaning Spurs, not Inter, will remain in the Champions League to compete in the knockout round.
That result meant that Spurs maintained a very intriguing tradition- never to have lost game on the last day of the group stages, with two wins and a draw in their previous three games.
Onyekuru ends UCL Campaign Without Scoring A Goal
He’s one of Nigeria’s brightest talents following a brilliant start to his career which has seen him star for two Belgian sides, Eupen and Anderlecht.Onyekuru‘s talent saw him secure a move to English team, Everton, who sent him out on loan to Anderlecht last season before doing so again this season to Turkish team, Galatasaray.
#Galatasaray will continue its European journey in @EuropaLeague.
— 25x Turkish Champions
(@Galatasaray) December 11, 2018
The move to Turkey was a good one and meant the 21-year-old versatile forward will be playing in the elite Champions League.
But on Tuesday, he and his team were sent down a level to the Europa League with the forward failing to find the back of the net or even assist a team mate.
This happened despite Onyekuru playing 323 minutes in the CL this season, with 45 of those minutes coming in their final game against Portuguese side, Porto, who went, saw and conquered them at their own backyard, the Turk Telecom Stadium in Istanbul.
Well, I guess for the Super Eagles youngster, he lives to fight another day, and hopefully he does have a better outing in the Europa League.
